Singlespeed & Fixed Gear"I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five.
Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft...As for me, give me a fixed gear!"-- Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 - 16 August 1940)

damned you boston calling me out like that. He misquoted the **** outta me and I can't email him since i'm in london and my email is all screwy. First of all my name is jack drury, second of all i own one track bike, not three (although you know, that'd be nice), and third of all the only italian parts besides the frame are the bb and headset (again if you wanna hook me up that'd be nice). But ken meant well and the article was definitely meant for people unfamiliar with fixies. He's a nice guy as well, for what that's worth. All love to ken but, you know, phone interviews don't tend to work so well.

i've seen that article before. this time it's just written by somebody else, published in a different paper. hits all the main points though--urban, hardcore, tattoo, crazier than you, how exotic, et cetera. the craze is interesting, but is there really that much to say about fixed gear bikes?

As a clarification, Sky Yaeger's comment about "these things are a lawsuit waiting to happen," doesn't in way inidcation that she's talking about her own products. She could be talking about Bianchi bikes, but she could also be talking about fixed gear bikes in general.

As a clarification, Sky Yaeger's comment about "these things are a lawsuit waiting to happen," doesn't in way inidcation that she's talking about her own products. She could be talking about Bianchi bikes, but she could also be talking about fixed gear bikes in general.

She could be talking about brakeless 'track bikes' sold by many companies, including the bike which she personally helped design...

the pistas ship sans brakes, no? that lawsuit waiting to happen is probably one of the dumber comments I've ever seen in print. When the lawsuit does drop the plaintiffs now have evidence that Bianchi was aware of the legal risks of selling 'track' bikes for street use without brakes...

also that 10,000 number is surprisingly low, guess the explosion is really just an urban core thing. Even if conversions and imported/dug up used track bikes are factored that's not a huge market at all. Maybe 20-30,000 additional fixies in the US last year? Wonder how many of those get bought and barely ridden too? Judging from CL and some people I know probably a lot...

yeah, that helps them, but I don't think it ensures them of any legal victory, not to mention potential bad PR if a suit gets launched... And no matter how you cut it an executive in charge of a product describing it as a lawsuit waiting to happen is not smart.

I wonder if they ever had any internal discussion weighing the benefits of shipping with and without the brakes? At their level what does adding a front brake cost, $5? $10? If they decided not use a brake cause it pushed them out of their target price point and it can be shown they were aware that most people would be using these on the street, that'd be a pretty nasty lawsuit. All hypothetical, but man, if I was a Bianchi exec I'd definitely want those things shipping with a little something more on the front..